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How To Bring Down LDL Levels?

Posted on Mon, 24 Mar 2014

Question: Hi My bad cholesterol level are high, i need to balance it out.my ldl count is 234 last month when i got this checked

Answered by Dr. Dr. Prasad J (2 hours later)

Brief Answer: Start with diet changes and exercises... Detailed Answer: Yes, the LDL number is high enough to put you at significant risks. I would start with modifying your diet and adding more exercise to your life style. It might help to plan a personalised diet plan from a nutritionist and stick to it. In general I would add plenty of fibre rich whole grain cereals, green leaves and fruits, nuts/dry fruits, fish, egg, ginger, garglic, onions and chilli pepper (capscium) to the diet. You also need to start daily aerobic exercise, brisk walking, cycling, swimming, yoga and pranayama. In addition, you can take help of medicines - statin and fibrates. Your physician will know about this medicine. Hope this helps. Let me know if you need clarifications. Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Dr. Prasad J (20 minutes later)

Thankyou so much doctor. A problem that i face is that if i work out rigorously for a week it starts showing on my body and face, and even if for 4 days i dont work out i tend to put on weight, Do i need to alter my diet, i prefer having home cooked food instead of junk. i eat outside once in 20 days. i would like to tell you is that i have low blood pressure issues, and have cravings for sweet, after meals.. is that ok!. i am married and in 2012 i had pregnancy termination, after this my body has become too week to go for workouts and take extra strenuous activity. My body has become too week to take injection pains(my body was too strong to not to feel any pains from injections,but not anymore) , has it something to do with the high cholesterol level or pregnancy termination, and if something can be done to cure this

Answered by Dr. Dr. Prasad J (3 hours later)

Brief Answer: It is important to exercise and eat healthy... Detailed Answer: Dylipidemia and few other medical conditions are unfortunately closely related to life style. Though medicines may invariably lower LDL, it is important to keep up with healthy eating and exercise to keep your heart and blood vessel safe and risk free. Moreover eating healthy and exercise also stabilizes cholesterol numbers. Therefore my comments to your follow up questions are: 1. I am unsure what problem you face while exercising. If it's issue with maintaining it, it's matter of making preferences. 20 minutes of right exercise - 5 days a week - repeated cycles - is sufficient to keep the cholesterols lower. You make this regular feature on your personal dairy. 2. Yes, you need to alter the diet - cut all high calorie and high saturated fatty acids. You can take the help of nutritionist here. I prefer to put my patients who have sedentary lifestyle on 1600 to 1800 kcal diet. 3. Low blood pressure isn't very significant in the absence of clinical symptoms. Your doctors will know the reasons for low blood pressure after detailed examination. 4. Crawings for sweet may be normal or related to abnormalities including diabetes and hormonal issues. You can talk about it with your treating doctor. 5. Medical termination of pregnancy has nothing to do with making you weak or reducing your tolerance to pain. It is also unrelated to cholesterol issues. Hope I have answered your questions. You are free to ask follow up questions before closing the discussion. Regards

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar